


Bittersweet

by JenniseiBlack, thescarletphoenixx



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, Pining, Swearing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-06 04:22:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,733
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19055155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JenniseiBlack/pseuds/JenniseiBlack, https://archiveofourown.org/users/thescarletphoenixx/pseuds/thescarletphoenixx
Summary: The arrival of a new face in town shakes up the dynamic amongst a group of childhood friends.





	Bittersweet

**Author's Note:**

> Written for revengingbarnes‘s 10k writing challenge on Tumblr, my prompt was a Riverdale AU. Written with my fandom bestie jenniseiblack because we both love Riverdale, in addition to the MCU and Harry Potter. Thanks for all of your help love, I couldn’t have written this without you! <3
> 
> Disclaimer:   
> All non-original characters, plot points, and information belongs to The CW, and/or Marvel Studios. The story plot and dialogue belongs to me. I do not write for profit.

“Oh my god Nat, when are you going to tell Steve how you feel instead of just telling me?”

 

Clint flopped over on Natasha’s bed with an exasperated sigh.

 

“Clint, it’s not that simple! We’ve been best friends since we were kids, but how am I supposed to tell him that I have feelings for him? What if he doesn’t feel the same way? I don’t want to lose my friendship with him either.”

 

Natasha chewed her bottom lip. Sure, it was easy to talk to Clint, her other best friend, about how she felt about Steve. But talking to Steve himself about it? Now that was terrifying. Natasha and Steve had lived next-door to each other since they were little. They’d grown up and gone through school together, and now here they were, about to be juniors at Riverdale High.

 

“Holy shit! Steve got HOT!”

 

Clint’s shout pulled Nat from her thoughts with a start.

 

“What?? What are you yelling about, Clint?!”

 

“Well just look at him, dude is ripped!”

 

Clint was gesturing excitedly to Nat’s bedroom window, which conveniently was right across from Steve’s.

 

Gone was the scrawny teenage boy she knew, and before her eyes was a perfect specimen, all sculpted muscles and tanned skin. Holy shit, indeed.

 

~~~~

 

On the other side of town, Peggy Carter was stepping out of a town car in front of the Pembrooke Hotel. She’d just arrived in Riverdale with her mother. “It’s a fresh start for us,” her mother kept saying. Indeed, they did need a fresh start, but Peggy still did not see why they had to leave New York City. She already missed her friends terribly, despite her mother’s assurances that she would make new friends in the town where she herself had grown up, so many years ago. The doorman was friendly enough, and he remembered her mother from her younger days, and was delighted to meet Peggy as well.

 

After they’d settled into the spacious suite they would be calling home, they were famished. Peggy’s mother drove the two of them to one of her favorite old haunts, Pop’s Chocklit Shoppe. Her mother had raved about their burgers and milkshakes the whole way there. As they waited at the counter for their order, Peggy looked around. She spotted a small group of people who looked to be about her age, huddled into a booth together with several milkshakes in front of them. They were smiling and laughing, and Peggy felt a twinge of homesickness for her friends back in the city.

 

She caught the eye of one of the guys at the table who was facing her way. He was blond and muscular, wearing a letter jacket, obviously a jock. But the soft smile he offered her when their eyes met, told her there might be more to him than all of that. She gave a small smile in return, before turning back to the counter to help her mother gather up their food. Peggy didn’t notice, but as they left the restaurant, he couldn’t take his eyes off of her, much to the dismay of the redhead seated in the booth next to him.

 

~~~~

 

Peggy sighed and bounced her knee as she sat in the guidance counselor’s office at Riverdale High. She was a little nervous, it was her very first day at her new school, and she didn’t know anyone except for her younger cousin Sharon. She hoped that she could find her at lunch, so she’d have someone to sit with. Her eyes snapped up as the door to the office opened, and in walked a red-haired girl whom Peggy recognized from the group she’d seen at Pop’s. The girl offered her a bright smile, which didn’t quite reach her eyes, and extended her hand to Peggy.

 

“Hi, you must be Margaret Carter. I’m Natasha Romanoff, and I’ll be your peer mentor. I’m going to show you around today.”

 

“Nice to meet you Natasha, and everyone calls me Peggy.”

 

“Well, Peggy, my friends call me Nat. Come with me.”

 

She opened the door and the two girls stepped out into the busy hallway.

 

“Let me introduce you to Riverdale High! So you just moved here from New York City, right?”

 

“Yes, my mom and I. My mom’s sister lives here with her daughter, my cousin Sharon. They’re the only people I know.”

 

“Oh! Sharon Carter is your cousin! I can see the resemblance now. Sharon’s real sweet.”

 

Peggy smiled. She felt a little more at ease. Natasha pointed to two guys clustered near a classroom door, one talking animatedly while the other looked to be trying to take notes rather frantically.

 

“Over there you have the science guys, Bruce Banner and Tony Stark. They’re best friends but you’d never guess they would be. Tony is Mr. Popular, he’s practically a genius and he knows it. Bruce is kind of shy, equally as smart, but just not willing to flaunt it like Tony.”

 

They continued down the hall with Natasha pointing out various people. She seemed to know everyone too, they all said hello and Natasha introduced Peggy to them. Her head was spinning by the time they reached the student lounge. She was relieved to see Sharon there with her friends on one side, and she was also surprised to see the guy from the diner, sitting amongst a group of people clustered on the couches. Natasha pulled Peggy towards them and excitedly introduced all of them as her closest friends.

 

She met Clint Barton, who wrote for the school paper with Natasha and whom she introduced as one of her very best friends. Wanda Maximoff and her twin brother Pietro, the latter who played for the football team with Sam Wilson and Thor Odinson (an interesting name, she thought to herself). James Barnes, who reminded Natasha that no one ever called him James, and reintroduced himself as Bucky, and finally, the boy from the diner, Steve Rogers. His eyes hadn’t left Peggy since she’d entered the lounge with Natasha. With the biggest grin, he jumped up to shake her hand (she wondered, does anyone really shake hands anymore?), but he must have brought some static from the couch along with him, because the moment his hand touched hers, they both felt a shock.

 

“Ow!”

 

“Oh gosh, I’m sorry Peggy!”

 

“Nice going, Stevie. Her first day here and you’ve shocked her, literally.”

 

The group snickered at Bucky’s smug joke, and they all shuffled around to make room for the girls to join them. Natasha squeezed in between Steve and Bucky and Steve made more room for Peggy to sit on his other side. By the time she’d sat down, Peggy was standing up again, as Sharon had come over to say hello and give her a hug. It had been quite a long time since they’d seen each other, but Peggy was so relieved to know at least one person in this town. However, Natasha and her friends made her feel very welcome in their group, particularly Steve.

 

“So what classes do you have, Peggy? Let’s see your schedule, we can tell you which of us you have classes with.”

 

“Oh yes, and maybe you all can help me find them as well, I’d hate to be late to any of them on my first day,” she said as she pulled her schedule from her bag.

 

“Hmm, ok, looks like you and I have 1st, 4th, and 7th period together!”

 

Steve beamed at her, and she blushed a little.

 

“Oh good,” Natasha chimed in, “That means I’m also in your 1st and 4th period classes.”

 

Peggy missed Natasha’s slightly wistful tone at finding that Steve and Peggy shared a class that she wasn’t in. As Clint was looking at her schedule, in strolled Tony, whom she recognized from the hallway earlier. Bruce was not far behind him.

 

“Hold onto your butts people, I have arrived!” He announced himself with a smirk and a wild arm gesture, as he slid onto the arm of the couch next to Clint.

 

Everyone rolled their eyes, but laughed at him, and said hello to Bruce, who just watched in quiet amusement.

 

“Ah, new blood!” He exclaimed as he laid eyes on Peggy.

 

“Tony!” Natasha smacked his arm.

 

“What??” He gave Peggy a wave and a grin and introduced himself.

 

“I’m Tony, and you are?”

 

“Peggy Carter,” she replied.

 

“Well it’s nice to meet you Peggy. Say, Barton, what’s that you’ve got?”

 

He snatched up Peggy’s schedule from a startled Clint’s hands before he could reply.

 

“Ah, looks like you have 6th period with me and Bruce. Contrary to anything Nat says, we’ll take good care of you!”

 

He dodged a crumpled up piece of paper that Natasha threw at him.

 

“Shouldn’t you be more worried about Pepper? Or has she still not figured out that you actually speak fluent French?”

 

This time, she dodged the same crumpled ball of paper as Tony threw it back at her. Laughing, she continued on.

 

“This idiot here, pretended to be failing French, so that he could sign up for peer tutoring with Pepper Potts. He has a huge crush on her, and it seems that everyone knows it but her. Why don’t you just ask her out like a normal person, Tony? If you don’t ask her to Homecoming, I may just do it for you.”

 

Peggy tried hard to stifle a giggle while everyone else around her laughed. She found it equal parts hilarious and adorable. Mumbling something that she didn’t quite catch, Tony got up to leave. Bruce seemed to find it funny too, because Peggy could see his lips twitching in a small smile.

 

As her schedule was passed back to her, Peggy found that she had at least one class with everyone in the group, and they all had 4th period together, gym class. Lunch period was directly after, and now she wasn’t quite so nervous about her day, knowing she would now see a familiar face in each class. Sharon was a grade below her, so they wouldn’t have any classes together and up until now, Peggy had been worried about that, since she didn’t know anyone else in Riverdale. She looked at the group of people around her, and hoped that she’d be able to call them her friends. Maybe this move wouldn’t be so bad after all.


End file.
